Short Summary

Ten people were killed and fifty-two injured when a lorry load of six and a half tons of explosives blew up August 7 in the centre of Roseburg, Oregon, U.

Description

Ten people were killed and fifty-two injured when a lorry load of six and a half tons of explosives blew up August 7 in the centre of Roseburg, Oregon, U.S.A.

A crater 50ft wide and 20ft deep was blown out of the street where the lorry had been. Six blocks of warehouses and shops were reduced to a mass of smoking rubble.

Unable to find parking space outside the sleeping town, the lorry driver parked his vehicle next to a warehouse and went off to buy a cup of coffee. During his absence the warehouse caught fire. Hearing the clamour of fire engines rushing to the scene, he ran from the restaurant hoping to move the lorry before the devouring flames reached it. He was too late. Halfway across the roadway he was hit by the blast and lifted high in the air.

The lorry was carrying a cargo of dynamite and ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer capable of exploding under certain conditions.

Oregon's State Governor has officially declared Roseburg a disaster area.